A Life in RUINS
by Siren-Song-Jes
Summary: Of course you want to go home. But when you look into her eyes and you feel the heavy weight of her palm on your head; when you see all of the worry and the pain looming there just beyond the surface of her smile, you find that you can't bring yourself to leave her alone again. So, you decide to stay. Living in the RUINS couldn't be so bad. Right?
1. Prologue

**AN: Hello everyone! Welcome! For those who have read my work before, welcome back! ^w^**

 **The idea for this fic came a little while ago when I was conversing with a friend and throwing theories around (because what else do you do when talking to other Undertale freaks) and this series of questions started to spark off like fireworks in the back of my mind. Before I knew, I had a new story that I just HAD to get out!**

 **If you're a fan or a follower of my other story, "The CORE of the Matter" (Sticks and Stones), this is goes at slightly different speed and has a COMPLETELY different feel. These chapters will be much shorter and I don't plan for it to go on for very long. But all the same, I hope everyone has a good time!**

 **That being said, let's get right into it!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 **Prologue**

The sun was already low in the sky that day when you decided to go for a walk. The others were a bit loud, bringing up references and stories and going on lengthy tangents that completely excluded you. The way they speak and they way they laugh is like they were purposefully trying to exclude you. The whole thing was starting to annoy you. You thought that you would let them be for a bit and that you would get away for just a moment to wander the mountain and explore. The others don't seem to mind, nor do any seem to want to join you. So you venture off on your own.

You are not from around this area. You are here visiting some old friends who moved out this way when you were in elementary school. You tried to keep in contact, calling on the phone and writing letters, but after a couple of years, those stopped and it seemed your friendship stopped with them.

This is the first time they ever invited you to their town.

Or rather, this is the first time their parents thought that maybe they should invite you over to their new town and your former friends begrudgingly obliged.

Ebott. What a funny name. Almost like it was backward or something.

And what a funny name for a mountain.

You muse on the thought for a while as you wander. Along the way, you happen to pick up a pretty decently sized stick and you decide to keep it with you, swinging it around and hitting tree trunks and rocks in an undetermined pattern as you walk aimlessly.

You feel something sharp in your gut. The pang of hunger. You can see just how late it really is. Dinner would be ready soon. With this thought in mind, you decide that perhaps you should be heading back.

You turn to make your return trip down the mountain. The sun is setting and there is a bit of a chill in the air, causing you to wrap your arms around yourself in an attempt to keep warm. Of course, you left your jacket and all of your other items down at the base of the mountain with your friends and your striped shirt isn't quite warm enough for what was sure to be a chilly night.

Perhaps sooner was better than later. You begin to walk back down the mountain.

And that's when you hear it: Singing. A woman's voice seems to resonate from within the mountain and it floats through the air, calling out to anyone who will take a moment and listen.

For some reason, she sounds so sad.

You stall for a moment and listen to her, following the tranquil melody; the rises and falls, the swells and decrescendos. She tells you her story through her song even without the need for words and within minutes of listening, you feel as if you know her. But beyond that, you know that she is in pain.

If she is somewhere on this mountain, there has to be something you can do to help her.

But this is Mt. Ebott.

You know the stories and you've heard the tales. Those who climb Mt. Ebott never return. Is this why? Is this how people end up falling? The call of this song and the thought of maybe being able to do something about it? Like the call of a siren, luring people to their own demise. Is this what she does? Is this how she hunts? By making you feel sorry for her? By pulling on your heartstrings and making you feel like maybe there could be something you can do to help set her heart at ease.

You hesitate, contemplating for a moment.

You know the best thing to do would just to head back. You have friends who are waiting for you. You have a meal that will surely get cold if you linger.

But the sound of the song haunts you.

If there was just something you could do. Maybe if you could help, even just a little. Maybe you could just let her know that you heard her and that you were listening.

You listen intently, using what you can gather in an attempt to locate where the sound is coming from. The soft notes lead you higher up the mountain and to an open area where the vines have grown in an outcropping over the ground. This is where the sound is loudest and the most clear. It must be coming from here.

As you approach the area, the singing stops. You hear a long sigh, but nothing more.

You have to be careful with your steps. You are not blind. You see the gaping hole in the ground.

You stand very near the large hole and look over the edge into the cavern, hoping to maybe hear the song again. Or at least converse with the owner of the voice.

There is a part of you that is hesitant. If the voice was coming from within the hole in the ground, that meant that the owner really was a monster. That meant that all of the stories and all of the legends were true.

That is reason enough not to go any nearer toward the hole. If what you heard was really the voice of a monster, then surely she would try to eat you as soon as she saw you. But . . . it also meant that she woudn't be able to if she couldn't get to you. After all, the legends said that all of the monsters had been trapped under a magic barrier for a long _long_ time. And with a hole this large and a cavern this deep, there is no way to get up to where you are.

You should be safe from up here.

And her voice did sound so sad.

You are filled with DETERMINATION.

You stand near the edge and call down into the cavern. Perhaps the voice will hear you and she will return. Perhaps the two of you could talk and you could find out why she was so sad.

You call again and you receive no response.

Perhaps once more. If she answers, then good, if she doesn't, then you're no worse off for trying.

You call again for the owner of the voice.

But nobody came.

You let out a breath, deciding that it was probably best to cut your losses and finally head back down the mountain for dinner. You are not stupid. Perhaps a bit reckless, but not unintelligent. You know when a mission is hopeless and you know when you should throw in the towel.

You are not stupid . . .

You are, however, very clumsy.

As you turn to head back down the mountain, you don't seem to notice the vine at your foot. It _had_ been there before, hadn't it? Of course it had. This whole area is covered in vines.

Well, whether or not the vine had been there before. It is definitely there now and it is definitely trapping your ankle as you try to pull away.

And you are definitely falling.

You seem to pass the ground and it zooms past you as you continue downward. The ground rushes up to meet you. There is a flash of gold and you hit something solid.

Your File is Saved.

* * *

 **AN: Well, so far, this should sound pretty familiar. Even if the circumstances differ from theory to theory and from story to story, you have found yourself in the Underground. Now that you're there, what choices will present themselves? What will you do?**

 **Who knows, there may be some situations where, just like in game, I may ask you to make a choice that helps shape how this story plays out! Until then, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this first chapter and I'll see you in the next!**

 **Stay tuned!**


	2. Your Best Friend

**AN: So, it's been quite a while, hasn't it? For a second, I was afraid I wouldn't come back to this, but here we are! After finishing "The CORE of the Matter" however, I hit a pretty bad writer's block. I hope to get out of it soon, but in the meantime, it meant that I could come back and work on this project a little to try to jump start the process! I really hope the quality hasn't suffered with the lapse in time. I'm also working on a few other projects as well, so that may also account for the absence. I apologize.**

 **Alrighty, back into it then. In our last episode, you discovered a mysterious voice while exploring Mt. Ebott and, like the klutz you try to pretend you aren't, you've fallen down into the mountain and you seem to have hit the ground pretty hard. Are you okay?**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 **Your Best Friend**

There must be something wrong.

When you open your eyes, all you can see from your little spot of light is a ground covered in gold. Did you die? Have you gone to heaven? You've heard before somewhere that the streets there were paved with pure gold. Is that where you're standing now? On those golden . . .

Nope, they're just flowers.

And since when did "heaven" have rock walls? And it was far too dark, anyway.

You take a look upward and see the hole where you'd fallen through, a certain reality dawning on you in that moment. You'd just fallen through to Ebott's Underground. You'd already heard the monsters and you know now that the stories are true. If all that is correct . . . you're stuck.

The monsters have been sealed down here for who knew how long . . . how could you possibly hope to escape?

Well, you know one thing, you won't get anything productive done by sitting around staring at the cave mouth.

You pull yourself up to stand amid the flowers. May as well get going. Maybe, if you're lucky, you can navigate through, you can stay hidden . . . maybe you can find a way out without getting caught or killed or eaten by monsters. Maybe you can use your stick as a weapon.

In reality, you don't want to fight. You hate confrontation and you would rather not resort to aggressive tactics, but you grip your stick all the same, feeling you'd rather have it and not need than need it and not have it.

As you make your way from the flower patch, you notice a sharp sting somewhere on your body, something that hadn't been bothering you before, a new cut . . . and it's pretty deep and beginning to bleed. You see the smear of red on the tips of your fingers when you inspect the wound.

Well, you're off to a good start, aren't you?

You reach into your pocket. Something told you you'd need to bring one of these along. You have a pretty good gut instinct. Or, at least you've been told.

You remove the bandage from its protective packaging and apply it carefully to the stinging wound, hoping it will at least protect it from the outside elements.

Alright then. On you go.

As you make your way from the cavern and deeper into the cave, you can't help but think that maybe there actually is a way out . . . or maybe there's a way for you and the monsters to work together to accomplish that task. You start to entertain the idea that maybe even the owner of the mysterious voice can be your first ally. Ironic, that it was your desire to help her that landed you in this situation to begin with.

You hum to yourself and keep moving, choosing to think along the lines of the best case scenario.

You are filled with Determination!

As you leave the area, the flowers disappear and you find a well-traveled path. There's a part of you that wonders how many others have traveled this same trail only to disappear forever. After all, no one who has fallen into the Underground has ever been seen again.

No, no! You are supposed to be thinking positively!

You continue onward.

In the corner of your eye, you see something shift . . . Scurry? Was it a mouse? Some cave-dwelling creature . . . ?

. . . A monster . . . ?

Your hand tightens around your stick and you hope that you're only imagining things. You continue forward into the next room.

You find a single patch of grass . . . odd. Why would grass randomly grow in this one spot?

As you step forward to inspect the area, maybe poke at it with your stick, something moves! A single yellow flower pops out from the center of the patch of grass. It startles you and you take a cautious step backward.

The flower wears a bright and innocent smile as if it appeared only to greet you. Maybe it saw you fall! Maybe it was one of the flowers that caught you . . . . were the other flowers alive as well? Were all the flowers _monster_ flowers!?

You feel a little bad for falling on them now, especially if they were alive and you didn't bother to thank them for catching you . . . but you didn't know. Where you're from . . . the flowers don't typically have faces.

"Howdy!" The flower grins in a tiny voice, breaking you from your thoughts, "I'm Flowey! Flowey the flower."

You raise an eyebrow at that . . . Flowey the flower . . . ? Well, that's original.

You nod your greetings, still unsure of how to answer "Flowey"

The flower seems to study you for a moment, "Hmmm. You're new to the Underground arent'cha?"

For a moment, you hesitate. Did this flower think you were a monster at first? Does he know you're human . . . ? Should you tell him . . . ? What will he do when you confirm that you're not from the Underground? You nod your response. The flower's expression doesn't falter in the slightest. Good. He's not put off by your humanity.

"Golly." He says, a bit of concern in his voice, "You must be so confused. Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little old me will have to do."

You smile back at the flower. Really? He's gonna guide you? How nice of him!

"Ready?"

You answer in the positive, lowering your stick to your side. Perhaps you won't need it after all!

"Here we go!"

Almost immediately, your body seems to still and you are rendered immobile. The air around you stills as well and the edges of your vision go dark. You start to feel slightly nervous as the apprehension grows. You've felt this before when facing some of the older meaner kids at school. The ones who would always hunt you down for whatever lunch money you had on you at the time. It isn't a pleasant feeling, nor a pleasant reminder. You curl slightly over on yourself as you look forward. The flower before you is still smiling joyfully, so it must not be at all abnormal for him. Maybe this really is how things are done in the Underground. Maybe you are merely getting ahead of yourself.

You try to relax.

A faint glow seems to emanate from your chest, red and pulsing like a heart. It _is_ a heart! Your heart.

"You see that heart?" Flowey asks, "That is your SOUL. The very culmination of your being."

You take another look downward. It does feel very familiar to you. And you suppose that if it is, indeed, your soul, it should feel like you. You reach out, maybe to hold it in your hands and you notice something very odd. Your hands have gone completely translucent. You can see straight through them! You wave forward to touch your soul and your hand phases through with absolutely no resistance!

What the . . . Your soul is completely exposed this way! Without your body to protect it, how in the world are you supposed to shield yourself?

Flowey is still smiling. You notice, his body seems to be intact. You can't see his soul.

You chance a step forward to ask Flowey what's going on and your soul moves with you . . . interesting. You take several more steps forward, backward and to the either side. Your soul follows your every step.

So that's how it works.

"Your SOUL starts out weak, but can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV."

LV . . . ? You've never heard of that before. You stop in your steps to look back at Flowey. You ask him what "LV" means.

"What's LV stand for?" He repeats, "Why, LOVE, of course!"

You halt, with a slight smile. Love, huh? Man, these monsters are nothing like what stories say. Maybe those stories were completely wrong about how things happened! If this flower was any indication of how the other monsters in this place are, then maybe it won't be so bad!

"You want some LOVE, don't you?"

You nod back to him, your smile firmly in place now.

"Don't worry, I'll share some with you!"

Flowey winks at you.

Who knew you'd make a friend so quickly! Your plan to stay hidden while you searched for a way out seems silly now that Flowey is here helping you.

All around Flowey, white pellets float into existence, spinning whimsically around him.

"Down here, LOVE is shared through . . ." He seems to struggle with what to call the little spinning things, "Little white . . . 'friendliness pellets'." He nods with confidence. "Are you ready? Move around! Get as many as you can!"

Even as he speaks the friendliness pellets hurtle toward you. You know that there's nothing to worry about, but even so, it catches you off guard. Your instinct kicks in from years of fighting off, avoiding and evading the older kids and you run to avoid the pellets. They're pretty big actually and at that speed, they seem like they would hurt . . . especially if your body won't protect your soul like this.

You've missed every single pellet.

When you look back at Flowey, his expression has finally shifted. He seems a bit put-off. You suppose that does make sense. After all, he did offer to share some love with you and you went and ran away from it. That's no way to treat a new friend, is it?

"Hey, buddy." Flowey hums, "You missed them. Let's try again, okay?"

You nod back to Flowey, silently apologizing to him for missing his gift.

Again, the pellets spin around Flowey and again, he sends them your way. But you're ready for them this time. You know what you have to do. When the pellets come at you, you move to the most ideal spot to catch as many as you can in one go. This will make you strong. With enough love, making it through the Underground will be a cinch!

The pellets collide with your soul and immediately, it feels as if you've been shot through a number of times with white hot bullets! With a sharp cry, you fall to your knees, panting and sobbing. It hurts so much! Why would love hurt like this!? It feels like you're about to die!

When you look back at Flowey, his expression has changed dramatically. He's wearing the most terrifying and hideous face you've ever seen and would never expect from a flower who had been acting so sweetly before!

That's when you know Flowey played you for a complete fool. He was luring you into this trap where he could attack you unaware. How cruel! How devious! How . . . monstrous! This is exactly like what the stories have said! The monsters prey on humans! Even this little flower! He has even made it an song and dance! A routine for unsuspecting humans!

"You idiot!" Flowey chides, "In this world, it's kill or BE killed! Why would ANYONE pass up an opportunity like this!?"

All around you more and more pellets materialize and spin, trapping you in your spot! You can't even move from your fallen position enough to think of a way out . . . there IS no way out! Flowey has you completely surrounded and on your last legs.

You cry out, clutching to your chest where your soul should be encased and protected. You can't even protect yourself! How could you expect anyone else to! But still you cry out with what little hope you have.

The pellets draw closer at a snail's pace. Flowey knows you can't escape and he looks like he is ready to enjoy killing you slowly.

You reach for the stick at your side, maybe with the little bit of strength you have left, you can still fight. You grip the stick, glad that your hand didn't just phase right through it. You can still use weapons.

You don't take your eyes off of Flowey as the pellets surround you and close in. He's wearing a dark and sadistic smile now.

"DIE." He commands. And he begins to laugh maniacally.

No! You refuse! You will not die here! You can't!

But still those pellets are getting awfully close! Can you really hope to fight them off when you're this weak?

Something shifts. That burning feeling from your soul is instantly lifted. You feel stronger already. Even the sting from the cut you got earlier has subsided. You pull yourself to your feet with no protest. You've been healed.

How . . . ?

Flowey stops laughing abruptly and he looks back at you with stunned confusion. He's just as stumped as you are.

To the flower's side something begins to glow . . . it looks like . . . fire! A fireball has materialized! It isn't anything you made . . . you can't use magic . . . at least you don't think you can.

The fireball blasts the flower away and he is knocked back with a cry. And just like that . . . Flowey is gone.

But who threw the fireball? Who healed you? Who heard your cries and came to help?

Moments later, soft footsteps approach. A towering snow-white goat monster in a purple dress comes into view. She would be terrifying if not for her kind eyes and her kinder smile.

"What a terrible creature," She says softly, "torturing such a poor, innocent youth . . ."

You recognize the tone in her voice! This is the one! The lady you heard singing before! She heard you! She came back for you!

She must have seen the lingering panic in your expression when she stepped in, because her face becomes even softer, more understanding.

"Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the RUINS."


End file.
